A Side Note
by girl undone
Summary: In which Commander Rachel Shepard teaches Garrus Vakarian something new about her heritage- and her fondness for the dash key. Entire crew appears. Rated for language.


In the debrief/comm room, Miranda Lawson was droning. Even Jacob, usually so captivated by her, looked ready to fall head-first into his OSD. Jack made no pretense of paying attention. She simply put her head on the table and dropped off. Joker had his cap pulled so low he might be dozing off as well. Samara could have been meditating for all anyone knew and Thane could be lost a happy memory- quietly. Tali was fiddling with her omni-tool, probably sending a message to Kal'Reeger; Mordin was also tapping his, probably researching something. Legion was still and mute and Grunt was beginning to get very antsy. Kelly was eying the krogan warily.

Commander Rachel Shepard ran a hand through her hair and sighed. Perhaps letting Miranda have the floor was a bad idea. No one trusted her, with the exception of Jacob and Kelly, and no one liked her, with the exception of Jacob. Shepard inwardly winced at the memory of Jacob looking longingly after former Cerberus operative, declaring she deserved a better man than he was, and then, in the same breath, tried to talk his way into _her_ pants.

"... as you can see on this flow holo, our funding has dropped dramatically..."

Shepard picked up the stylus next to her OSD and scribbled something on it. She elbowed it to Garrus, who was sitting next to her, not sitting as straight as usually did. She wondered if he was falling asleep, too. Confident that she successfully looked like she was deeply interested in having Miranda tell them for the umpteenth time that they had no credits, she shoved her boot into his.

Garrus straightened up, noticing the OSD with messy human handwriting trailing down at an angle. His handy visor quickly translated Rachel's sloppy English scrawl. "_Oh (Error: Unknown word or phrase.)! Will Miranda ever shut up? To think I used to __like__ Earth accents!_"

Garrus stealthily stole Shepard's stylus from under her arm with his talon. He nodded at something Miranda said about cost-effective energy savings, and circled the word that his visor couldn't translate and wrote underneath in precise turian script: "_What does this mean? Also, have you considered sealing her in the airlock and venting the ship?"_ He paused, then added, "_You still like Palaven accents, though, or so you said this morning..."_

"... so if Mr. Moreau would stop wasting fuel by 'putting the _Normandy_ through her paces'..."

"What the shit? Did you _want_ me to leave you at the Collectors Base? Cuz I would have been fine with that." Joker pushed his cap up, eyes blazing now that Miranda finger-quoted him.

Shepard slammed her hand on the table, dragging the OSD back in front of her. "Lawson, he got us out of hell. Cut him some slack," she ordered. "Joker..." she began, sounding a bit regretful to admit, "I do have to agree that you don't need to test the thrusters so very often when we're in Council Space."

Both Miranda and Joker glared at the Commander and protested her attempt at peace.

The ex-Cerberus operative complained distainfully, "Typical. Always defending your friends no matter what they do."

The pilot argued hotly, "We could just as easily be attacked in Council Space!"

Shepard groaned and rubbed her shoulder. She had a permanent bruise there from her assault and sniper rifle's kickbacks. "Noted, Joker. Continue, Lawson." She had momentarily forgotten the OSD, but as she dropped her head down, wishing for another cup of Earl Grey, she saw Garrus had written something back. Tapping idly on the side of it, as though bored, it quickly translated Garrus' message into English. As she read it, she grinned swiftly, then looked confused for a moment. _Oh! The dash must screw up the translator..._

"Do I need to repeat myself, Commander?" Miranda was smirking at her.

_Fuck. So not professional, Rachel. _"Not at all, Lawson. I'm just trying to stay awake like the rest of us." She gave her a fake smile.

Miranda huffed and pressed the holo to show another chart. Rachel rubbed her eyes, picked up and the stylus and started writing, not trying to hide it.

"It's good of you to take notes, Commander," the Australian accent was dripping with sarcasm.

"I like to be concise," Shepard shot back without looking up.

_"G-d? 'G' dash 'd'? It means deity. I guess your translator didn't understand the dash. I can't write the different names for my deity down in full. In our prayer books, another, holier name is used, but I couldn't just write it here on the OSD. I guess it's silly of me, since I say it so much in vain, which also isn't allowed, but it's just what I was taught. Never kicked the habit and really never saw a reason to. No harm, no foul, as they say." _She leaned back in her chair and yawned, pushing the OSD sideways toward Garrus with her outstretched arms.

There was a sudden *thunk!* and everyone jumped. Grunt's head had hit the table. Jack, who had either been shaken out of slumber or faking it, was the first to laugh. "Aww, you put the baby krogan to sleep, cheerleader!"

Miranda looked offended as everyone looked enviously at Grunt in peaceful slumber. Commander Shepard stood up. "All right, all right. Lawson, I think that's enough for now. I know. We're broke. I get it. We'll discuss this later. _In private_." Then, loudly, she said, "Dismissed!"

Grunt didn't move an inch. She couldn't help cracking a smile at the sleeping, teenaged krogan. As the rest of her crew filed out of the room, she leaned back against Garrus, who had risen from the seat next to her. "I wish I could sleep like that."

"Want me to tire you out?"

"Oh G-d, yes. Though, despite my damned aching neck and shoulder, between passing notes and sneaking off for, er, _extracurricular_ activities, I feel closer to Grunt's age than my own. Whatever it is. Am I still technically twenty eight or am I officially thirty? I ought to ask Miranda." The edge from weariness in her voice bled into bitterness.

Garrus pressed a button, clearing the OSD of their notes. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he steered her toward the door. "Don't ask Miranda. Say twenty-eight if you want. It's like you said..." he whispered, determined not to let her fall in a foul mood. Despite his low voice, his words reverberating against her nonetheless; she shivered in response as he continued, "No harm, no foul."

It worked like a charm. Rachel turned round to face him just outside the room, in the corridor between the the armoury and Mordin's lab, "Ooh, you learned another one of our tricky phrases," she teased, first sealing the doors to the debrief/comm room, letting Grunt sleep, then twining her her arms around his broad shoulders. She had that coy little smile on her face.

"I did work at C-Sec among many humans before I ever met you." His mandibles flared in response to her expression.

"Well, still, I did teach you something new today." She lowered her voice and said in a tone that was becoming very familiar to him, "So teach me something I don't know, _Officer Vakarian_."

* * *

Mordin watched the human and turian make excuses as they dashed through his laboratory. "Hm. Yes. Staff meeting _was_ very stressful. Must be cause for such haste to relieve tension."


End file.
